AuthorAware records your writing process in the background. This manual covers everything you need day-to-day: writing, projects, checkpoints, backups, AI collaboration, and trust tiers for higher-stakes provenance.
The editor is a plain text area. Click anywhere in it and start typing. Everything else happens automatically — AuthorAware records your keystrokes, edits, pauses, and paste events in the background without any input from you.
Every keystroke, deletion, paste, and idle pause is logged into a session record attached to your project. This record is not exposed to you directly — it runs quietly in the background. When you attest a checkpoint (see Section 3), a snapshot of the session data is sealed into the ledger alongside the content hash.
The green pulsing dot in the top bar confirms the session is active. It pulses the entire time you are writing. If you close the tab and reopen it, a new session begins and picks up where you left off.
If you paste a large block of text, AuthorAware logs it as a paste event — including the character count and timing. Paste events are not flagged as suspicious; authors paste notes, research, and earlier drafts all the time. They are simply recorded honestly. A reviewer looking at the ledger can see exactly when and how much text was pasted.
As you write, AuthorAware computes a composition score (0.00–1.00) from your keystroke patterns. Genuine composition looks different from transcription: it has long irregular pauses (thinking), frequent deletions and rewrites (revision), and non-linear editing (jumping back to revise earlier text). Transcribing from another source produces a steadier, more rhythmic pattern with low variance. The score appears in the Session Monitor panel on the right. It is colour-coded: green (≥ 0.55) means a strongly composition-like pattern; amber (≥ 0.30) is ambiguous; red suggests a transcription-like pattern.
The score is one signal, not a verdict. Short sessions, very fast typists, and dictation-to-type workflows will all score differently. It is sealed into each checkpoint alongside the other session data — it is evidence, not a gate.
Each piece of writing lives in its own project. A project holds the draft text, the provenance ledger, session history, and AI conversation log (if any). You can have as many projects as you like.
Click the project name in the top bar (it shows "Untitled Project" by default). A panel slides down showing your existing projects and a + New Project button. Give it a name — something clear like "Chapter 1 draft" or "Essay — Atlantic submission." The name becomes part of the ledger.
Click the project name in the top bar at any time to open the project panel. Select any project to load it. AuthorAware saves the current project automatically before switching.
Open the project panel, find the project, and click the rename icon. Project names are stored in the ledger — renaming does not alter past ledger entries.
A checkpoint is a sealed, timestamped snapshot of your work at a specific moment. Attesting a checkpoint is how you build the provenance record — each one adds an entry to the ledger that cannot be altered without breaking the chain.
Attest at natural stopping points: end of a scene, end of a session, before a major revision. You don't need to attest constantly — the session data is recorded continuously regardless. A checkpoint is a declaration: "I am satisfied with this state of the work at this moment."
Click Attest Checkpoint in the top right of the top bar. A modal opens showing a summary of what will be sealed — content hash, word count, keystroke count, and timestamp.
When you confirm, AuthorAware handles your backup automatically based on your setup:
Every attested checkpoint becomes an entry in the ledger — a cryptographic chain where each entry is signed against the previous one. The ledger is visible in the right panel of the console. It shows the sequence number, content hash, timestamp, word count, and session stats for each checkpoint.
Every checkpoint seals the same core record regardless of tier: content hash, session signature, keystroke count, paste events, active writing windows, flags, and composition score. The trust tier determines what additional evidence is bound into the chain:
The tier is sealed into the session signature — it cannot be changed after the first keystroke of a session.
A backup export is a single .json file containing your entire project: draft text, ledger, session history, and AI transcript (if any). It is the complete, self-contained record of your work.
Click ↓ Download in the top bar, or press Ctrl+Shift+E (Mac: ⌘+Shift+E). A .json file downloads immediately — no dialog, no options. Save it somewhere safe.
In browser-only mode, attesting a checkpoint also triggers an automatic download so you always have a copy sealed to the moment you attested.
Drag a .json backup file directly onto the AuthorAware window. A drop zone appears — release to restore. The project loads immediately and appears in your project list.
You can also drag an entire project folder onto the window. AuthorAware scans the folder for .json backup files and imports all of them at once.
| Shortcut | What it does | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+Shift+E | Export project backup | Downloads full .json (draft + ledger + session) |
| Drag & drop — .json file | Restore single project | Works on any AuthorAware window |
| Drag & drop — folder | Restore all .json files in folder | Imports each file as a separate project |
The storage button in the top bar tells you at a glance where your projects are being saved and whether the proxy is connected. Click it at any time to see details or download a backup.
| Button state | What it means | Action |
|---|---|---|
| 💾 Local Backup | Browser-only mode. Projects are in IndexedDB only. | Use ↓ Download regularly. See Setup Guide for permanent options. |
| 💾 .hap-proxy/projects | Proxy connected. Projects auto-saved to disk. | Nothing required — you're covered. |
| 💾 Local Backup | Proxy connected (no separate projects folder configured). | Nothing required — proxy is handling saves. |
AI Chat is available at Level 4 (proxy running + API keys configured). Click ⟡ AI Chat in the top bar to open the panel. The panel slides in from the right and stays open while you write.
A dropdown at the top of the chat panel lists every provider you configured. Switch models at any time — context carries over within the session.
Every message you send and every response you receive is sealed into a separate AI transcript alongside your project's provenance ledger. The transcript is honest: it records what you asked, what the AI said, and when. This is not a penalty — it is a feature. Reviewers can see that you used AI as a research or drafting tool, and can judge the work accordingly.
At the start of each new session, AuthorAware can generate a handoff summary — a brief recap of where you left off, what the AI discussed with you last time, and any outstanding threads. This gives the AI context without you having to re-explain the project from scratch each session.
AuthorAware operates at three levels of provenance evidence. All tiers record keystroke patterns and produce a composition score. Higher tiers add screen and camera capture, binding a video record into the cryptographic chain alongside your text. Choose a tier before you start writing — it locks after your first keystroke.
Click ⋯ in the top bar to open the overflow menu. Scroll to the bottom — the Trust Level section shows three buttons. Click your tier before you start typing. Once you press the first key, the tier locks for the session.
When you select Verified or Proctored, your browser will ask permission: a screen-share picker for Verified, plus a camera permission dialog for Proctored. Select Entire Screen (not just a tab) for the most credible record, then click Share. Accepting camera access gives a continuous 1fps webcam recording.
The Compose score in the Session Monitor panel is a 0.00–1.00 measure of how composition-like your keystroke pattern looks during this checkpoint period. It is computed from four signals:
The score resets at each checkpoint and represents only that checkpoint period. It is sealed into the credential and visible in the attestation modal before you confirm.
When you select Verified or Proctored, a Video Provenance panel appears in the right sidebar below the Session Monitor. It shows:
The video hash is committed to GitHub at every checkpoint automatically — this is free and requires only your existing GitHub connection. The hash is enough for most provenance purposes: it proves the video existed at that time and cannot be altered after the fact.
If you also want the actual video file stored off-device (for disaster recovery, or for an auditor who wants to view the footage), choose one of the three options in the Video Provenance panel: